Help Lily Capture Sports: Fund a new Camera for Photography!

Hey! My name is Lily and over the past year, I have found my passion and true desire for the love of photography. About a year ago, I reached out to my local high school's football coach because I saw a post that they were looking for a videographer. I emailed him and asked if I could take pictures at their first practice. It was the first time I held a camera somewhat professionally and I felt like I was carrying on my family's tradition of being a photographer (5th generation). After I was finished at the football practice, I went home and immediately opened up my computer to start editing them. On the phone with my father, I started stressing and crying because I didn't know how to upload them to my editing software. That's when I knew I wanted to keep on doing this.

Over the course of a month or so, I grew my business, expanding through Instagram, Facebook, and other socials. I eventually did more sports for my school and even some for surrounding schools. And I did my first profitable job for the Geneva Jr. Panthers Football and Cheerleading sports portraits. It filled my dining room table for a bit and it definitely was a learning experience and working with a company to print over $1,400 worth of items for parents and their children to keep as a memory forever.

For those of you who know me, I myself am into sports and cheer season had started about a week after the first football practice. Even before school had started, I was carrying around 2-3 bags all around campus. One for cheer practice, one full of camera equipment, and one carrying everything that didn't fit in the other two, and not to mention a big camera lens that would either be in my hand or hanging off of the camera bag. When school did start, it was one of the most stressful times I had gone through. I eventually quit my job at a local diner to focus more on my academics, sports, and photography but it was 100% worth it because I was able to make people smile through the use of pictures of their sons/daughters, friends, family etc. The days were long and the hours were countless but it was all worth it to see my business, carried down from my family, grow and see others faces light up when I sent them the action shots of their high school sport(s). In the end, that's all you have right?

Pictures are a standstill moment of a big part of your life that you can keep and cherish forever.

The reason I am starting this GoFund Me was to ask for help to get me a new camera so I can continue my love for this. Unfortunately, towards the end of winter season some family issues went unresolved, causing me to lose my camera. As a result of that, I've had to turn down multiple profitable offers and I also do not currently have my own camera I can use for this upcoming 24-25 sports season.

What makes me different from the other sports photographers you see local in the finger lakes region, is I don't watermark or charge for any pictures. As an athlete myself, I see how annoying those are and when you want to post your commitment announcement or set a new profile picture it can be extremely annoying to have to pay for the picture after all the hard work and money you put into your sport, the last thing you want to do is pay for a picture. I understand why other photographers do use watermarks, I get it, but I do what I do out of the pure kindness and love for sports and photography out of my heart. I love to be able to share that through my lens.

As of now, my future plans are to go to college and minor in photography, and if I build a portfolio now, I can continue to learn about specifically sports photography but also expand my horizons when it comes to portraits, family photoshoots, special events and more. So whatever anyone can contribute to help me out a bit is greatly appreciated and I am so thankful for each and everyone of you who either shares this or donates!